The Twilight of the Dawn
by LoneTread
Summary: A collection of Moonlight drabbles and flashfiction. Installments contain possible spoilers for all episodes through 1x16, "Sonata". Title borrowed gratefully from H.G. Wells.
1. Contact

**A/N:** Just a drabble to get my feet wet in this fandom (previously posted separately from the fics to follow, but it seemed to make more sense to combine them). Spoilers for "Fever" (1x04).

* * *

**Contact**  
_(12/2/07)_

"At some point, you're going to have to stop me."

And then my fangs are in her arm, her blood is coating my throat, and I would swear I've never tasted anything so good in all my eighty-five years.

It almost lets me forget everything else. Like the uncomfortable fact that this is Beth, and that the next time I look her in the eyes, everything will have changed.

I hear her voice saying my name; reluctantly, I pull away.

But, just for right now, I don't look her in the eyes. I can't.

I don't want this to change.


	2. Untitled

**A/N:** Two short fics, written for allunwritten. Both are untitled and contain spoilers for 1x11, Love Lasts Forever. The second is slightly AU. Word counts are 63 and 100, respectively.

* * *

**1 **

_(1/27/08)_

As I leave, I can hear her start crying again, and it nearly breaks me.

She asked if I would have saved her, had it been her instead. Doesn't she know I would do anything for her? Anything but that?

I'd sell my soul for her, if I had one.

I don't, so hers will have to be enough for both of us.

* * *

**2**

_(1/28/08)_

It wasn't that I _wouldn't_, that I wanted him dead, that I didn't want to save him for you. It was that I _couldn't_. I know you knew that, even as you turned and asked me to.

I couldn't do that to him, to anyone – but I did all I could do.

This time, all I could do wasn't enough.

And now all I can do is look at you over the grave and wonder if things will ever be the same.

You look away, and I'm starting to feel like all I can do will never be enough again.


	3. Listen

**A/N:** Written for unloveyou prompt #14, "I'm awake and you're breathing." Set sometime after LLF. 100 words.

* * *

**Listen  
**_(2/14/08)  
_

It's early in the morning. I'm lying awake, and you're breathing.

I can hear you outside the door to my apartment – your breathing, steady and regular. Your heartbeat, which I'd recognize anywhere, lets me know it's you.

I wonder why you're here.

I wonder when you'll knock.

And then you do.

And as I always do, always will, I get up and go to answer the door. I have to. Because it's you. And because the one thing I can no longer bear to hear anymore from outside that door is the sound of your footsteps as you walk away.


	4. Epiphany

**A/N:** Written for unloveyou prompt #19, "This isn't about you at all." Set after LLF. 100 words.

* * *

**Epiphany**  
_(3/10/08)_

It's been a week since Josh.

Okay, I've been avoiding you.

You called a couple times the first two days, and I didn't answer. I needed space, needed time. You knew that, of course, and you stopped calling.

Because Josh is dead; Josh was dying and you wouldn't save him.

But really, it wasn't about you at all. It was about me, and how I was supposed to have loved him. And how I wasn't supposed to have loved you, but I did. I do.

I understand that now.

So pick up the phone. Call me. I'll answer this time.


	5. Risk

**A/N:** Prompt #24, "I want you to hate me." 100 words.

* * *

**Risk  
**_(5/2/08)_

You told me you loved me, and you wouldn't see reason.

_I love you. I need you. I can't live without you_, I wanted to say.

"It could never work," I say instead, halfheartedly, the familiar refrain I've uttered a million times before. You sigh, and glare at me, and my dead heart breaks.

You have so much faith in me, more than I have in myself. I wish I could believe it wasn't misplaced.

You love me? I don't want you to love me. I want you to hate me.

After all, I'm a monster.

It's safer that way.


	6. Blood Brothers

**A/N:** Prompt #27, Author's Choice ("Forgive me."). Spoilers for 1x13. 100 words.

* * *

**Blood Brothers**  
_(5/2/08)_

"You have to turn me back," he says, and slowly it dawns on me what's happened. An ultimatum, forcing him to choose between the two things he prizes the most – his newfound humanity, and Beth.

I knew it would come to this, and yet….

And he's made his decision. I know that even as I try to reason with him, to talk him out of it. To make him understand what he's asking of me.

But he understands. "Please, brother," he begs.

"Mick," I say. "Forgive me."

And I can only hope he does.

Blood has never tasted so bitter.


	7. Redux

**A/N:** Prompt #03, "This cancels out the hurt." Spoilers for 1x13. 100 words.

* * *

**Redux**  
_(5/3/08)  
_

For fifty-five years, I could never forgive her.

She took something so precious from me, and made me a monster. I got used to being a vampire, but I could never forget the betrayal.

I could see in your eyes, hear in your voice, that you recognized that even as I begged you to do the same. You've always known me better than I do.

But it isn't the same. I'm deciding this time.

You're not Coraline – you're my brother. I'll forgive you.

And unlike her, you don't need my forgiveness.

You're making things right. This cancels out the hurt.


	8. Desperate

**A/N:** Unloveyou prompt #15, "This is my desperation in action." Spoilers for "Fated to Pretend", again. 100 words.

* * *

**Desperate  
**_(5/3/08)  
_

"Mick, you're human again! After all you went through to get the cure, you're going to give it up this easy?"

I know, Josef, I know. You don't have to tell me.

I can hear the astonishment in his voice, and I can't say I'm surprised. If you'd asked me yesterday if I'd be giving up one second of this, I'd have told you you were crazy.

Things change.

"You think this is easy for me? This is not easy. I don't have a choice."

If I had a choice, I wouldn't be making this one. But I'm desperate – this is my desperation in action.

"He has my Beth. So please."


	9. Interview

**A/N:** Crossover with _Tuck Everlasting_. Written for ULY #28, Author's Choice ("We're both keeping secrets.") and, unofficially, Wtf27 #25, Media crossover.

* * *

**Interview**  
_(5/4/08)_

Josef Kostan looks the kid up and down, appraisingly. Not a vampire, and yet – he smells old, but looks young. Strange.

After four hundred years of life, not much surprises Josef, but this kid has managed it.

"What did you say your name was?" Josef asks.

"Jesse Tuck," the kid replies. His accent slurs the words a little; he hasn't lived in the city long. He looks uncomfortable, unused to the setting, to the whole world.

Josef nods, and decides to give him the job. Let him stay on, and Josef will figure him out eventually.

It could be fun.


	10. Waiting

**A/N:** ULY prompt 25. "You remind me of someone." FtP spoilers, 100 words.

* * *

**Waiting**  
_(5/4/08)  
_

My arm itches as it heals, but I barely notice the sensation. I'm too busy watching Mick. Waiting for something to happen.

Seconds pass like hours, and I think of Sarah. Of watching her, just like this, waiting. And nothing.

I wonder for the millionth time what I did wrong.

And I pray to a god I haven't believed in for centuries that I didn't do whatever it was again.

Then he sits up, his eyes open, and I breathe a quick sigh of relief and thanks.

And push those thoughts to the back of my mind for another night.


	11. Loss

**A/N:** ULY prompt #06, "I want to need you." Set sometime around "The Mortal Cure"; spoilers for LLF. 100 words.

* * *

**Loss**  
_(5/4/08)_

Beth spun the ring around on her finger and stared at the grave, thinking.

She wished she was mourning what they might have had – love, marriage, a family. But she knew she wasn't. She knew deep down that she wouldn't, couldn't, have said yes.

She was mourning a friend, a good friend, and that was all. That was enough, but that was all.

She almost wished she needed him, and she hoped he understood that she didn't.

"Josh, I'm sorry," she whispered softly.

The sunlight glinted off the ring. She put it in her pocket, turned, and slowly walked away.


	12. Morning After

**A/N:** Prompt #12, "I'm drunk." Minor spoiler for Click (1x14), 100 words.

* * *

**Morning After**  
_(5/5/08)_

Beth hadn't thought about that morning in years.

When she had woken up, her head had hurt like it had been saving up headaches just for that morning, so she'd known she hadn't dreamt it.

Thinking back on what she could remember of the previous night, though, she had to wonder. The guy had acted so strange, _looked_ so strange.

Then she'd swallowed and ran to the bathroom, deciding she didn't really care as long as all she had was a hangover and not herpes.

"Maybe once in college," she said now, with a smirk, "but I was really drunk."


	13. Tested

**A/N:** Prompt #21, "You'll do."; 100 words. Spoilers for "Click".

* * *

**Tested**  
_(5/6/08)_

You're looking me in the eyes, unblinking, and I almost want to laugh. Because I know why you're doing it.

You think – hope – that I can't tell you're terrified.

But I can.

I don't mind.

And the fact that you're here anyway, asking this of me – however vaguely worded and hesitant the request – speaks volumes in itself.

It says that you truly do care about Mick, that you'd do whatever was necessary for him, just as I would.

Maybe him being with a human isn't so bad. At least, not so long as that human is you. You – you'll do.


	14. Family

**A/N:** Prompt #11, "Thought I needed this." Spoilers for 1x15, "What's Left Behind". 100 words.

* * *

**Family**  
_(5/9/08)_

The letter feels heavy in my hands. "I just didn't know how much I wanted a family until I almost had one." I allow myself a last, longing look towards the house and the family within – and I feel a surprising sense of loss.

"Family's not only about DNA," Beth says, and it's true. I _have_ a family. My family is Josef. It's Beth. And if it's not biological, even better. My family is _chosen_.

I look away from the house, back at Beth, and smile. I thought I needed this, a family, but I don't.

I've already got one.


	15. Breaking Point

**A/N:** Another "Fever" drabble, for prompt #10, "I'm broken." I was expecting angsty McBeth, and got this. (See chapter 28 for the McBeth.)

* * *

**Breaking Point**  
_(5/11/08)_

I tumble into the cool water, grateful for even that reprieve from the heat of the sun. It's not _cold_, not the sub-zero my body craves, but it's a start.

There's something else I'm craving, too. I try not to think about it, try not to listen to Leni's heart beating fast and loud in the other room, but it's impossible.

And now she's opening the door, coming in, trying to help, putting herself in danger.

Bending my self-control further than I'd have thought I could stand.

For her sake, her baby's, and my own, I pray it doesn't break.


	16. Inhuman

**A/N:** ULY #20: "I hate you, you bitch." Set during "Fleur de Lis", 1x09. 100 words.

* * *

**Inhuman**  
_(5/13/08)_

The room had horrified Beth, and she'd sped in her haste to get to Mick's.

Now she was staring at him in shock. Her eyes darted to Morgan – Coraline – then back to Mick with intensity born of fury. "How could you?"

Barely hearing his reply, she strode forward and jammed her makeshift stake into Coraline.

The woman was taking things from her even now. It was only fair.

The blood surprised her a little, and the revelation of Coraline's humanity surprised her a lot, but she still looked on, unmoved.

Anyone who could kidnap a child wasn't _really_ human, anyway.


	17. Playing Games

**A/N:** Written for prompt #05, "You can be like me." Spoilers for LLF; 100 words.

* * *

**Playing Games**  
_(5/14/08)_

"_I'd have done the same thing. Except I probably would've enjoyed it more."_

"So," Josef said casually, "I hear that Tejada guy was killed last night. They're saying something about a dog. Apparently the witnesses were all too drunk to be trusted."

"Really? What did they say?"

"Oh, come on, Mick!" Josef responded, a hint of anger and frustration flaring in the room for an instant. "We both know what they said, what they saw. Frankly, I'm impressed."

"I enjoyed it," Mick mumbled.

"Even better," Josef announced with a smirk. "Now come on, sit down and let's have a drink."


	18. Present

**A/N:** Prompt #26, "I can be like you." 100 words. Spoilers for the finale, "Sonata". Also, cheese warning!

* * *

**Present**  
_(5/16/08)_

I don't envy him his position. But, watching them burn, together… I envy them that relationship.

And I realize I can have it, too.

It's hard to live in the moment as a vampire, when the future stretches endlessly before you, years of reasons why you shouldn't do this or that, why it'd never work.

Meanwhile, the couple turning to dust before me only had 150 years – but it was 150 more than they'd have had if they had never tried.

I'm determined to try.

Because, in the end, it's not about whether it's safe or dangerous.

It's about love.


	19. Safe

**A/N:** Prompt #17, "I wish I didn't love you." 100 words; set at the end of "Fever". One of my personal favorites.

* * *

**Safe**  
_(5/17/08)_

I know you didn't understand the reality – the dangers – until today. I hurt you, could have killed you.

And yet you're standing outside my door anyway, less naïve and just as determined.

I wish I had your faith in me.

I'm sorry I don't.

But this just proves what I've been saying, what I've known all along: it can only end badly, it's too dangerous, _I'm_ too dangerous.

For your own good, for the good of us both, I have to stay away. To keep you safe.

I just wish I didn't love you – then it wouldn't be so hard.


	20. Viewpoints

**A/N:** Written for prompt #23, "You remind me of me", in two sections of 50 words each. Set during "Sleeping Beauty", 1x10.

* * *

**Viewpoints**  
_(5/17/08)_

They'd loved each other so much, done everything right – and yet, here lay Sarah Whitley, forever asleep, tormenting Josef. Beth couldn't bear it if she did that to Mick.

Looking down at the girl's prone form, Beth saw herself, and finally understood. Mick had been right. It was too dangerous.

--

One glance at Josef's face as he gazed at Sarah and it was painfully obvious how much he loved her.

Josef Kostan, in love with a human. This proved anything was possible.

And now, at last, Mick was willing to try. Beth had been right. It was worth the risk.


	21. Fledgling

**A/N:** Futurefic, 100 words, for prompt #09, "Always wondered what this'd be like."

* * *

**Fledgling**  
_(5/17/08)_

I'd always wondered what this'd be like.

I had thought the black crystal had given me an idea, but it wasn't the same.

This… this was so much bigger, more intense than anything.

It felt like I could see and smell everything, taste things on the air I'd barely known existed before. It would've been too much, too overwhelming, without Mick there. But of course he was; I could feel that, too.

So I simply ran my tongue over my new fangs in awe, then fixed my ice-blue eyes on Mick and grinned widely.

"Why did we wait this long?"


	22. Human, Vampire

**A/N:** Prompts #01 ("You were right about me.") and #02 ("I was wrong about you."). I've posted them in one chapter because they're companion pieces intended to be read together. 100 words each; spoilers for 1x12 and 1x13.

* * *

**Human**  
_(5/18/08)_

Waking up to the sunlight streaming through the window, I marveled again at it all. Even I hadn't realized how much I had really missed it.

I'd quickly gotten used to the diurnal schedule, to remembering to eat, to all the little intricacies of human daily life that I'd forgotten about because they hadn't been a part of mine for over half a century.

And I was loving every moment of it.

_It looks like you were right about me, Josef._ I just wasn't cut out to be a vampire after all. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

**Vampire**  
_(5/18/08)_

I watch Mick nervously, willing him to wake up, to be okay, and all the while hoping desperately that I'd done the right thing by him. _Mick, forgive me._

Then he sits up and his eyes open, revealing the familiar crystal blue. He snarls.

He doesn't look too devastated.

Looks like he just had to be able to decide for himself.

Glad to see it, I grin.

_I was wrong about you,_ I decide. _Maybe you _were_ cut out to be a vampire, after all._

In all my four hundred years, I have never been so glad to be wrong.


	23. Guilty

**A/N:** Prompt #22, "I hate myself." 100 words concerning a flashback in "Dr. Feelgood".

* * *

**Guilty**  
_(5/18/08)_

Coraline, for her part, seemed to be perversely pleased. But I couldn't stop seeing the girl's wide, frightened eyes begging and pleading with me. I'd wanted to listen, to not do this, but the pulse of the blood under her skin had been a siren song I was helpless to resist.

And then I was unable to stop.

It was months before I could close my eyes in the morning and not see her eyes, taste her blood in my mouth, and feel her pulse – pounding at first, and then slowing to a stop.

I hated myself.

I still do.


	24. Standoff

**A/N:** Crossover with _Supernatural_. I fully intend on fleshing this out into a much longer story (I've already got bits and pieces of a plot worked out), and this scene will eventually be less talking and more violence, but for now, this was all I could fit into 100 words. It was written for prompt #29, Author's Choice ("There's a lot you don't know.").

* * *

**Standoff**  
_(5/24/08)_

_Are you kidding?_ Mick wanted to ask. But the taller man was holding a flamethrower, the other wielding a machete. It certainly didn't look like they were kidding. He sighed.

"Look, I don't know how you know all this, but you got some things wrong. We're on the same side."

"Really."

"Yes. I'm a PI, onto the same deaths you are. I didn't kill those people, and I won't hurt you unless you give me a reason, so how about you put those down and we solve this together?"

The pair shared a look, then complied.

"Okay. What've you got?"


	25. Regrets

**A/N:** Prompt #30, Author's Choice ("Wish there'd been another way.") 100 words; set during the last scene of FtP.

* * *

**Regrets**  
_(5/24/08)  
_

"_I don't have any regrets, okay?"_

You might not have regrets, but I do. I have plenty for us both.

I regret that you had so little time – and that, now, time is all you have.

I regret that you couldn't experience everything you wanted to.

I regret that you couldn't have it all forever.

I regret that you even had to make that decision.

And I regret that I was the reason you gave it all up.

You may not blame me, but I can't help but blame myself. And I'm so sorry.

I wish there'd been another way.


	26. Adopted

**A/N:** My first go at prompt #18 ("I pity you."). I eventually rewrote it completely with the subject I'd originally intended for it, but this one (although redundant) wasn't bad enough to justify deleting it entirely, so I'm posting them both. The other one is slated for Chapter 32.

* * *

**Adopted**  
_(5/24/08)_

"This is the way it's supposed to be." Even as Mick says the words, obviously determined to make himself fully believe them, I can hear the disappointment in his voice. I'm sad for him, too; he was denied yet another part of the human existence taken from him so long ago which he still holds so dear. "I just never realized how much I wanted a family until I almost had one."

_But you do._

I wish he could have the one he wants so badly, but failing that… he has me.

It's not the same, but it's a start.


	27. Tearing Down the Walls

**A/N:** I started writing this about a month before I finished it, so it's not set anywhere in particular in the canon timeline. I'm going with "AU to Sonata", but it contains no spoilers. 100 words, written for ULY #16, "I want to break you." (Also, I don't usually write romance, so I hope this isn't too awful.)

* * *

**Tearing Down the Walls**  
_(5/24/08)_

He was backing away, shaking his head. Again. Again!

_No,_ Beth decided. _Not this time._

Cutting off his excuses, she asked, "What's the problem, Mick? We don't need to have this same conversation again. 'Oh, it's too dangerous, Beth', 'You could get hurt, Beth'. How many times do I have to tell you I don't care?"

He stared at her, stunned and speechless.

And she took the opportunity to come closer and kiss him desperately.

He responded, and his resistance weakened and broke. They parted for air and he breathed, "Okay, we can try."

And Beth silently rejoiced.

_I win._


	28. Hurt

**A/N:** Another Fever drabble; prompt #13, "I want to hurt you."

* * *

**Hurt**  
_(5/27/08)_

I'm barely listening to her. It's difficult to focus with the sound of her quickening pulse in my ears.

She's nervous, scared, as she should be. Yet she's offering anyway.

I don't know what to make of her, sometimes. But I know I don't want to hurt her.

I don't want to hurt her, but I need to, a desperate, overwhelming need that frightens me, too.

And a part of me – the part I despise – would like nothing more.

So I take her arm in my hands, carefully, reverently.

And I want, crazily, to apologize, but decide it can wait.


	29. Unproven

**A/N:** Second version of #07, "Prove it." (The first is never going to see the light of day again. I hope you like this one, though.) Set during 1x10; 100 words.

* * *

**Unproven**  
_(5/28/08)_

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't have feelings for him."

Josh begged me, the request a step away from an ultimatum, and I was glad Mick showed up then.

Mick and his impeccable, if awkward, timing had kept both of us from having to face the fact that I wouldn't have been able to do it.

I couldn't possibly prove it to him, because it wasn't true. I didn't want to hurt Josh – had never wanted to – but there _was_ something between Mick and me.

I had loved Josh once, but now….

I wasn't sure anymore.


	30. Selfish

**A/N: **Set during LLF; prompt #08, "I'm cruel." 100 words. This is another of my favorites.

* * *

**Selfish**  
_5/28/08_

I tear my eyes away from where Josh lies bleeding – dying – and turn them on Mick instead.

"You can save him. Turn him, he'll live!"

Mick backs away, horrified. "That's not living, Beth."

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know he's right.

I know it's cruel to ask Mick to do that.

Selfish, to expect Josh to want it.

But Josh is dying at my feet, there is nothing I can do, and Mick is refusing to help. Aren't I entitled?

So I let myself be angry at Mick.

I'll forgive him eventually. But not today.

Not now.


	31. Different

**A/N:** After several rewrites and edits: Prompt #04, "I need to want you." Spoilers for Sonata. (The quote is paraphrased; my muse and I weren't paying enough attention the first time, sorry.)

* * *

**Different**  
_(5/28/08)  
_

"It's just, that day in the desert, you made it seem like a big deal…."

_Oh._

Suddenly her reaction made sense.

How was he supposed to explain to her, though, that the two things were completely different?

That vampires and freshies had one kind of relationship, he and Beth had another, and the two weren't supposed to overlap?

That Simone was a professional, while Beth had been putting herself in danger? And that there had been the fear, too, that it would change things between them?

He had no idea.

So he just followed her silently into the house, instead.


	32. Sorry

**A/N:** The second attempt at #18 (see chapter 26, "Adopted"). 150 words.

* * *

**Sorry**  
_(5/31/08)_

The cold grip of his hands had almost numbed parts of my arm by the time he sank his teeth in.

And then all the feeling came flooding back.

The sensation was not as painful as I'd expected, but it was nevertheless intense, and strangely intimate.

I felt very _close_ to him, and knew this would change things in none of the ways he probably feared, but certainly in others.

And then suddenly it was over, I was holding a towel to my arm, and we were both searching for something to say.

"Are you okay?" he whispered finally.

I nodded. "I'm fine. You?"

He nodded, somewhat stiffly, in return, and wiped his mouth self-consciously, his eyes darting away again.

I felt a sudden stab of pity, and he looked at me then, like he wanted to say something but didn't quite know how.

"I'm sorry," he managed.

"I'm not."


	33. Transience

**A/N:** Inspired by and written for the prompt "transient beauty" on the LJ comm linebyline. 100 words. Unless linebyline inspires me again, this will probably be the last chapter of "Twilight of the Dawn", but I'm currently 5/6 of the way through a five-times fic for Moonlight called "War Stories", so watch for that.

* * *

**Transience  
**_(7/20/08)_

She was aging, as humans did. She stood before him, as stunningly beautiful as always, and getting just a little bit older every second, and somehow that made it, made _her_, even more beautiful.

Because it wouldn't last, couldn't last. Not forever. And because she was here now, with him, making the most of every second that it did.

Her mortality made everything a little scarier, yes. But knowing that it was possible she and her beauty and her life wouldn't be here with him next year or next week or tomorrow – it made him cherish her all the more.


End file.
